I have to admit us Kapenaars (from the Western Cape rather than just Cape Town) are rather parochial when it comes to South African wine.

Very little coverage is given either from down here, or, I guess from up north, to the tiny band of courageous wine folk in the Midlands region of Kwa-Zulu Natal, so my interest was piqued by a nudge from Paula Haldane of Dusty Heath Vineyard in the Hilton area, on Grape’s Forum recently.

Dusty Heath itself is still in the process of planting varieties for a future Bordeaux blend;  but Mauritz Koster, whose Estate wine will be labelled Bethani, takes in fruit from one hectare each of pinotage and merlot. These vines were planted in 2007 with the first crop coming off this year. Koster reports a yield of three tons from the pinotage and one from the merlot; the difference accounted for by ‘Willing pickers at night from this roadside vineyard,’ Koster sighs.’ Koster sighs. Currently, 2000 litres of pinotage and a mere 600 lts of merlot are maturing in oak barrels with an anticipated bottling date sometime in December.